Never Again
by patiencerunningthin
Summary: Raven is dropped into an environment she isn't comfortable with, until she meets someone who helps her see it isn't all that bad.


It was like Raven had been dropped right in the middle of her worst nightmare. Everything was so different to her. This place looked like a desert.

In the crowd she was in, she stuck out like a sore thumb. Everyone was wearing red. Sure they had different styles of clothing, but she was wearing her normal black leotard and blue cape. She started walking in one direction, trying to decifer where she could be.

Everyone she passed gave her the strangest looks they could possibly make. Feeling her face become hot, she pulled her hood up. She felt more comfortable that way, and that helped her control her emotions.

_Keep calm Raven,_ she throught to herself. _control your emotions, find somewhere to meditate. Anywhere, a park, behind a building, an alley, anywhere and you'll be okay for a while. _She began to become more frantic, she'd never felt this way before. She was way too uncomfortable. The only thing that would make her comfortable at this point would to either be back in Titans Tower, or having her friends there with her. She could feel her emotions getting more and more out of wack, she was normally more calm. She didn't know what was going on. She had to use all of her strength to keep her powers under control.

After looking around for what seemed like forever for her, she finally found a spot secluded from everyone else. So she sat down, and began to repeat her meditation words over and over. _Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. _She continued this incantation for a while. She could feel her emotions begining to straighten out and she was beginning to feel more comforatable with her current situtation, although she was still curious as to why she was here and how she got here.

She had been meditating for what seemed like a few hours, when suddenly she felt the presence of another person. She cracked open one of her eyes, and saw a boy sitting in front of her. In the exact same position she was in, only she wasn't levitating like she was. She finally just decided to open both of her eyes to get a good look at him.

He appeared to be around the same age she was, he had shaggy black hair and a red scar over his left eye. Despite that, he was quite attractive. Her eyes continued to scan him, she couldn't tell if he was poking fun at her, or he was legitmately trying to meditate the way she had been. He obviously hadn't noticed that she had stopped her incantation. There was no telling how long he had actually been there before she had noticed.

She slowly began to lower herself back onto the ground and continued to stare at him. After a few minutes of sitting in silence she cleared her throat. The boy opened his eyes, and smiled at her. "Oh Hi." He said. She continued to looks at him, still curious as to why he was even near her.

"Right, sorry. I'm sure you're wondering why i'm here and who i am and blah blah. I'm Zuko, and I spotted you as I was taking a walking, which is really unusual for me nowadays, but I guess I picked the right day to walk..." He continued to ramble on for a few minutes. Raven tried to process everything in her mind.

"But enough about me, what about you. What's your name? What's your story?" He finished after he told a story that seemed as though it would never end. "Uh...Well I'm Raven. And I certainly don't belong here..." She said in a manner to anyone else but her friends that would seems as though she didn't want to talk to anyone. But in all honestly, she was enjoying having some kind of company in this mixed up world.

"Raven. Hmm. I like that name. _Raven._ Oh and nice choice in clothes, dare to be different." He said in a kind of joking voice. Raven let a small smile slip and quickly went back to her straight face. "Thanks." She said quietly.

After a few moments of awkward silence Zuko spoke up. "So, are you going to let me show you around or are we just going to sit here all day." Raven's eyes began to becoming bigger, "Well I-" She began before he had grabbed her hand and took off, pulling her along.

"So.." Zuko started when he had slowed down quite a bit and they were now walking side by side. "If you don't belong here, where do you belong?" He questioned.

Raven looked up at him, and thought about it for a second. Should she tell him? Would he thinks she's crazy? Was she crazy?

After a few moments of internal debate she decided to tell him. She might as well at least, what if he could help.

"If I tell you, you have to promise you won't think i'm absolutely insane, okay?" She looked up at Zuko. He had a confused looks on his face, but he nodded his head indicating that he wanted her to continue and he agreed to her one condition. And with that she began her story.

"I am obviously not from here, as you can tell I don't fit in with you all. My hair, my clothes, everything is just completely different. I'm not normal either. I have _powers_." She stopped suddenly looking for something that she could demistrate with. She spotted a rock. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." She spoke as the rock lifted into the air and abruptly broke apart, as she wanted it to.

"See?" She said, she would have continued but she couldn't bring herself to open up more. It wasn't her nature. She had barely wanted to tell him that much.

Zuko looked from her to the pile of broken rock right in front of them, then suddenly he smiled. "I knew you weren't normal when I first saw you levitating. But you see, most people are here aren't normal either." He suddenly threw out his fist in front of him and fire shot out.

Raven's eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped. How did he do that, what kind of world was this. I mean, she was use to people have powers but the ability to shoot fire out of your fist was a new one.

"I'm a fire bender. There are three other kinds of benders too." Zuko continued. "Water, Earth, and Air. So don't feel like you're weird. Here we're all weird." He finished with a smile, he was trying as hard as he could to make her comfortable.

She smiled a weak smile, and continued to try and process this. This place wasn't normal either. But, it wasn't what she was use to back where her home was with the titans.

Zuko has taken Raven all over. He showed her the places in the city in which he thought would impress her. They really hadn't, but she didn't admit that. She appreciated his effort. It has been at least a few hours since they had began walking around. Off in the distance they could see the sun setting.

After walking a few more yards, Zuko stopped suddenly. "Raven, i'd like to tell you something." He said, looking around and then down at her. She looked up at him, confused. Zuko cleared his throat and continued. "I've enjoyed the time we've spent together today. Even though you've barely said a word and i've been talking most of the time about irrelevant things." He paused for a second.

Raven could tell that he was nervous, and she could tell where this conversation was going. She was mentally preparing herself for what she thought was coming. She had to remember to control her emotions, or something bad could happen with her powers.

"Anyway," he continued after his pause. "I just wanted to say that I have developed feelings for you." He stopped, his desperate eyes looked into her deep purple eyes. Raven was speechless. Never before had someone flat out told her about their feelings for her. Sure, Beastboy flirted with her, she knew how he felt, but he was kidish. She looked back into his eyes, "I never like to admit my feelings." She said, which was the complete truth. She was a woman of mistery. "But, I-I" she stammered. She could feel her cheeks becoming bright red.

Zuko looked fown at her and smiled. He put his hands on her waist, and began to slowly pull her closer. He never acted this way after first meeting someone, but this was different. _She was different. _ As they began to become closer, they slowly closed their eyes. Their lips were centimeters away from eachother when-

Raven abruptly woke up from the sound of the titan's alarm. Her eyes were wide and she was gasping. "TITAN'S LET'S GO!" she heard Robin's voice, which seemed like it was just down the hall.

It had all been a dream. She wasn't in the place where it had seemed she had been abandoned. She was in Titan's Tower, in her own dark room, she had been asleep. Zuko didn't exist, he had only been a fantasy. That alternative universe didn't exist. Or did it-

"Raven, we are in need of your assistance...please!" She heard Starfire say outside of her door after knocking twice as lightly as she possibly could. After collecting her thoughts, she put her dream aside and got up and rushed toward her door.

This dream would be locked away into the back of her mind. This was not something she wanted anyone to know about. She let her softer side show. _Never again_ she whispered to herself. _Never again._

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><p><strong>Sorry if this sucks, i just really wanted to write a quick RavenZuko fic. I sort of let Raven's softer side show, it's unusal but I just wanted to see if it would work. Please leave reviews after you read. c:**


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